Social media posts on Charlie Kirk’s killing lead to firings, lost opportunities
A journalist, a comic book writer and an NFL team employee are among the many people facing unemployment or a loss of opportunities after sharing posts online celebrating, mocking or justifying conservative influencer Charlie Kirk’s assassination.
A Carolina Panthers communication director, multiple public school teachers and a journalist are at risk or have lost their jobs after employers determined their remarks about Kirk violated company policies. In some of their comments, they repeated statements Kirk made while others mocked the manner in which the 31-year-old was killed.
“I think he should be forced to carry that bullet in his body,” New Orleans firefighter Ashley Creekbaum allegedly wrote on Instagram. “That bullet has a right to be there because it’s a gift from god.”
Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill shared a screenshot of Creekbaum’s post on X.
The New Orleans Fire Department said in a Thursday statement it is conducting an administrative review.
Her comment and others made light of Kirk, 31, who died after a gunman shot him in the neck during an appearance at Utah Valley University. He’s known for starting Turning Point USA, a conservative group aimed at organizing youth under conservative ideals. He was instrumental in building youth support for President Donald Trump’s candidacy. Law enforcement announced Friday that Tyler Robinson, 22, was arrested in connection with the shooting. Kirk is survived by his wife Erika and two children, according to a pop-up on Turning Point USA’s website.
And as the volume of posts proliferate, a website titled Expose Charlie’s Murderers has appeared online. Creators said the aim is to get employees fired and students reprimanded for sharing posts the site claims celebrate Kirk’s death.
“This is the largest firing operation in history,” creators wrote.
Not all posts on the site fit that bill as it posted screenshots of people resharing the influencer’s statements on gun violence and mass shootings.
Several labor law firms have sections on their websites reminding people that their posts can come back to haunt them as companies enforce policies against inflammatory content. That includes posts spreading classified information, inflammatory comments, explicit imagery and criticizing company leadership, according to Georgetown University’s Free Speech Tracker.
“What you post on social media can be considered a lawful reason for termination if it negatively impacts the employer’s reputation or operations,” attorney Eric Kingsley, of the Kingsley Szamet Employment law firm, wrote in August. “This is true even on your personal accounts and outside of work hours.”
Posts threaten user’s employment
One of the first major firings that happened out of Kirk’s assassination was MSNBC political analyst Matthew Dowd. He made comments on-air during the station’s coverage of the shooting.
He described Kirk as a “divisive” figure who “is constantly sort of pushing this sort of hate speech.” His comments happened before Kirk’s death was reported. MSNBC fired him that same evening, the network’s public relations account confirmed. Dowd contends on BlueSky and in a Substack post that the “Right Wing media mob” went after him, forcing the network to respond.
Middle Tennessee University President Sidney McPhee said in statements on the university’s website that an employee in the university’s Office of Student Care and Conduct was fired for comments that undermined the university’s credibility and reputation. He added staff knew the days following Kirk’s assassination would be difficult as some students would be outraged or saddened.
“This is the time when we count on our staff to be thoughtful, supportive and even-keeled,” McPhee wrote.
Author Gretchen Felker-Martin lost a publishing opportunity with DC Comics to continue the “Red Hood” series for her posts that allegedly read “hope the bullet’s OK” and referred to Kirk as a Nazi, The Hollywood Reporter first reported Thursday. The series went on sale Wednesday before the shooting.
Firings are likely to tick up as the Expose Charlie’s Murderers website and conservatives vowed to uncloak those they believed praised Kirk’s assassination.
Website created to ‘expose’ people
Expose Charlie’s Murderers popped up Thursday and claimed people sent in more than 20,000 submissions of others celebrating Kirk’s killing. Creators, whose identities aren’t immediately known, pledged to establish a searchable, permanent database that included general locations and industries.
“This website will soon be converted into a searchable database of all 20,000 submissions, filterable by general location and job industry,” according to the website. “This is a permanent and continuously-updating archive of Radical activists calling for violence.”
According to a Who.Is search inquiry on the website, the Kirk-supporting website was created Thursday just after 6:30 p.m. eastern time and is hosted by NameCheap, which listed “Redacted for Privacy” as the admin and registrant’s name. The website is hosted on Squarespace’s servers.
The Kirk-focused website collated screenshots of posts where people celebrated the influencer’s death. But it also included posts in which people shared quotes from Kirk about empathy, mass shootings and gun violence. That included an article Newsweek published in 2023 that quoted Kirk as saying gun deaths were “unfortunately” worth it to preserve the Second Amendment.
Conservative activist Scott Presler, far-right commentator Laura Loomer and others on X have joined the effort.
“I will be spending my night making everyone I find online who celebrates his death Famous,” Loomer wrote, “so prepare to have your whole future professional aspirations ruined if you are sick enough to celebrate his death. I’m going to make you wish you never opened your mouth.”
The website maintains it’s not doxxing as it aggregates publicly-available data. Doxxing is generally defined as the unauthorized publication of someone’s personal information online for harassment, revenge, identity theft or violence, according to the North Carolina Department of Information Technology.
It’s not the first site dedicated to getting people fired from their jobs. Canary Mission, Stop Antisemitism and Reverse Canary Mission all have similar lists of people and posts they’ve made that the organizations argued is a fireable offense.
One of the largest campaigns of doxxing involved identifying people who allegedly committed unlawful activities in the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Trump issued sweeping pardons for the 1,500 protesters on his first day back at the Oval Office.
The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, or FIRE, said in February 2024 that no federal law explicitly criminalizes doxxing. Federal agents have instead pursued stalking, cyberstalking, harassment and other related charges against people suspected of leaking a person’s or group’s confidential information.
“Doxxing may appear unseemly and unsavory,” according to FIRE. “It may cause some discomfort and/or distress. But, the rush to enact anti-doxxing legislation presents serious constitutional concerns.”
FIRE warns that broad doxxing bans could ensnare whistleblower activity and could run afoul of the First Amendment.
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Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
